Michael Malott dominates the Mafia Mayhem Trophy Race held at Reo Raceway in Rockport, IN.
From Mike:
I decided to run both stock and mod so I just left my 17.5 Tekin Redline motor in and ran it in both classes. I was qualified in the 4th overall spot. The 1st “A” I was able to get through all the rough driving and keep my head in the game. I got to second place and was reeling in the leader. I caught the leader and made the pass on him and was ready to get a good finish and start the mains off right. With about 1 minute to go I had an 8 second lead and was in cruise mode. I ended up loosing a front wheel bearing and my front wheel that ended my good run. The 2nd “A” started off terrible and I got taken out in the first corner and popped off a ball cup. The marshal got it fixed and threw me back out on the track and by this time I was almost a full lap down to the leader. I knew that I had a rough race on my hands so I just put my head down and started charging. By the halfway point traffic was cleared out and I stayed patient and made my moves where I could. I was turning the fastest laps of the race and was making my moves. With 30 seconds to go I had made up all the time and was about 5 seconds behind the leader. I knew I was faster then him and just needed a chance to close the gap. It was a little too late and right as I crossed the line about 10ft behind the leader I got caught by the line and had to settle for second. The winner of the 2nd round also won the first round so he set out the 3rd round. I went on to win the 3rd round by almost a full lap to end up 2nd overall for the stock corr class.
The mod corr class was a lot better as far as traffic and the driving. While still using my Tekin RS and Redline 17.5 I was able to get out and start to put distance on the rest of the field. Once I got into traffic it was a totally different story from the stock class. I was able to get through the traffic easily and ran a great first qual and ended up TQ for the round. Right before the 2nd rounds they put some water on the track and it was totally different. The 2nd qualifier started out really good and I went on to raise the TQ to up a little over 10 seconds from the 1st round. The 3rd qual started off good and I got out on the field and was trying a couple different lines in the rhythm section and it did not turn out so well as I broke a rear arm by casing a jump. I ended up TQ for the mod corr class while using the Tekin RS and Redline 17.5! The 1st “A” I got a good jump on the field and kept the hammer down and had an almost flawless run and ended up winning the 1st round. The 2nd round started the same way and I was able to get away from the field once again. I just played it safe and knew that I had a big lead and I if I went on to win the 2nd round I would take the overall. I took the win and ended up 1st overall in the mod corr class, again with a Redline 17.5!
The 1/8 electric buggy was the most highly contested class of the night and I knew I had to have my “A” game to be there in the end. I had an awesome qualifying and ended up setting TQ. The 1st “A” started off good and I was running a pretty good race. I started making some mistakes and that allowed the 2nd place guy to catch up and put a lot of pressure on me. I ended up 2nd by .8 seconds. The 2nd round I was able to get out clean and was laying down a blistering pace and had a great run going. I had the car dialed in and went on to win the 2nd “A” main. Tied for points going into the 3rd round and it was going to come down to who would pull it out. The 3rd round again started off good and I was able to get away clean. The rest of the field was battling it out and let me get away to about a 12 second lead so I started to calm down and put it on cruise and it almost cost me. I started making a lot of mistakes trying to play it safe and with about a minute to go 2nd place was closing in on me. I ended up crossing the line about 5 seconds in front of him and had a nice little victory lap to calm the nerves. I ended up taking TQ and the “A” win with a 1-1. I would like to again thank you guys for all your support. My Tekin electronics were awesome all night and I never had an issue.
Great Job Mike!